Team Stress Can Effect Productivity

A business owner must manage the levels of stress in the organisation. This is essential for improved productivity levels and happy teams. This can be driven by both, policy as well as conscious effort. Mental stress is passed on from top to bottom, in every organisation. It is important to manage it at every level.

A Happy Workplace:

The organisation must envision to be a happy work place. This should be a part of the vision and mission of every company. Creating a happy work place, requires some ground work to keep each and every individual happy. Organising weekly laughter sessions is a very effective technique do away with stress levels and a dull workplace atmosphere.

Skill Development:

Helping employees in developing their skills and updating themselves helps in reducing the stress related to professional growth. Treating every employee like a human being and helping him or her plan for career development should be the goal of every manager. This builds a much needed level of trust among employees and gives them a sense of security at the workplace.

A Culture Of Appreciation:

Appreciating employees for the good work they are doing, builds a positive work environment. Team leads must pro-actively help the teams in achieving the expected levels of productivity. This should be done through encouragement, patience and acceptance of mistakes. Developing situations where they are coerced to perform, creates stress and reduces output. Every individual must be encouraged to come up with ideas and solutions. There should be a culture of equal opportunities for all employees at all times. This keeps the teams motivated and ready for more.

Health and Fitness:

A good manager isalways aware of the health and fitness levels of his team members. It must be ensured that all team members are happy and healthy. Employees must be provided with free health check-ups from recognised doctors on a quarterly basis, to ensure they are not going through stress or illness of any sort. Organising sporting events on weekends is a good way to improve team fitness and health.

Time Management Workshops:

Weekly time management workshops help in understanding the work levels of employees and the time they are using to complete the required tasks. Teams must be trained to manage their time well, to be able to complete their tasks on time. If some employees are stressed out because of the burden of work they have, the manager must listen to them carefully before setting his/her expectations. Teams must be trained divide their time into tasks. Using a time and task tracking software like Invoicera helps simplify the process. They should record their hours and add tasks on a daily basis. This helps alleviate the stress caused because of non-completion of tasks and non-achievement of goals. The timesheets must be carefully analysed for sudden downfalls in productivity. These should be discussed on an individual basis to reason out and solve the respective queries.

Managing Stressful Situations:

Stressful business situations may arise every now and then. This may happen because of non-achievement of goals on time or a systematic shortfall. The manager must ensure that this stress is not passed on to the team members. Failures should be taken as opportunities to motivate the teams for performance improvement. Gaps in the performance must be used to introspect and improve. Free riders in the team must definitely be penalised and others must be sought feedback and solutions. More participation must be encouraged to make the situation better. Minimizing stressful situations at the workplace, is a responsibility, every team lead should take, on an on-going basis.

]]>Sleep = Productivityhttps://startupnation.com/start-your-business/launch-a-home-business/sleep-productivity/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=sleep-productivity
https://startupnation.com/start-your-business/launch-a-home-business/sleep-productivity/#respondThu, 15 Sep 2011 14:45:55 +0000http://www.startupnation.com/business-blogs/?p=4994Over the last few weeks on my own blog, I have covered topics ranging from stress busters to back to school to linked in for moms to past mishaps. It has been a busy few weeks with back to school, diving into a full schedule, and trying to remain calm, cool, and collected. Some days,...

Over the last few weeks on my own blog, I have covered topics ranging from stress busters to back to school to linked in for moms to past mishaps. It has been a busy few weeks with back to school, diving into a full schedule, and trying to remain calm, cool, and collected. Some days, I have managed better than others.

In the middle of this aforementioned mess that I refer to as my life, I am also preparing final copy for a one-sheet to be handed out at a conference next week. Being the perfectionist that I am, not only has the copy kept me up at night, but while doing it I found 10 copy areas that I want to change across my website. Yet another pressing item that interfered with my sleep.

The reason why I mention all this goes full circle to me discussing stress busters on my own blog. I left out SLEEP as a way of beating stress. I do not know if that was some crazy subconscious thing, but sleep was not on the list. I listed exercise, eating right, and laughter as the top busters. Sleep was missing from the list.

Typically, I do tend to burn the midnight oil AND take advantage of being a morning person. Earlier in the week while working on my copy and finding it difficult to step away, several people said to me ‘sleep on it.’ In other words – give it a rest and look at it with a fresh eye tomorrow.

I took the meaning of ‘sleep on it’ a step further. I interpreted the statement literally. I realized that I was in fact very tired and really did need a good night’s sleep. What did I do? I slept on it, literally and figuratively.

I powered down all my various devices and hit the hay. When I woke up in the morning, I felt great and absolutely ready to attack the task at hand. I finished the copy with a new perspective, and I physically felt much different. I am now moving SLEEP to the top of my stress buster list.

As start-up business people (and moms/dads), our lives are hectic and full. We need to take care of our businesses (and families) and often forget about ourselves. I know myself – I grab another cup of coffee or diet coke and keep plugging away. This catches up with me and you all too easily.

Yes, we need to make time to laugh and exercise. It is always important to eat right. BUT, most important is SLEEP. Allow yourself the time to walk away from whatever project you are working on, power down, and relax. Getting a solid night’s sleep will not only give you a fresh approach but make you feel great.